The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success, 3rd Edition

Conclusion

So what does e-mail marketing have to do with social media? Everything. E-mail was the original social media. Before there was Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and all the other sites, people shared content with each other by sending it in e-mail messages. And in many cases, they still do.

Also, social media is about two-way communication between you and your customers. If you aren’t communicating effectively—or at all because a spam filter is stopping your e-mail—then you’re not marketing. Social media requires you to build trust in your network, listen to what your customers have to say, and provide value and a strong WIIFM. That’s the same with e-mail.

The more you understand the most effective way to communicate through e-mail, the stronger your relationships will be with your customers. Remember, any time you send an e-mail to your customer and she doesn’t opt out, she decides to remain part of your network. If you can consistently provide value in the form of knowledge, information, resources, discounts, leads, examples, white papers, or even entertainment, your customers will continue to correspond with you. And like any relationship, the more they agree to converse with you, the stronger the relationship becomes. Remember the old adage, “The best compliment a customer can give you is a referral.” Customers who trust you and buy from you will recommend that others do the same.

To hear all of the Expert Interviews, go to www.theSocialMediaBible.com.